Autumn 1997 Channel 4 and HMV, in association with The Guardian newspaper,
joined forces to find out what the British public considers to be the best
music of this millennium. Every type of music was eligible: from the Beatles
to Beethoven; from country to classical; from pop to hip hop. It was the
most ambitious survey ever undertaken.

To celebrate the 900th UK number one single, UK TV Channel 4 conducted this
poll by the British public via their web site. This list is not the
nightmare it could have been. Only one song by an artist was nominated – the
one that sold the most – so the situation of having 7 westlife singles in
the top 10 did not occur!